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Question: The protest movement in Israel is expanding. What would be the right course for its development?

Answer: Of course, at this stage it is necessary to take care of the average citizen.

But generally, the problem is that the whole world had put great hopes on the middle class. There are simple workers who are satisfied by simple pleasures in life, and opposed to that, there is a higher layer, which comprises a very big part of the population. It includes youth who still haven’t chosen their life path. As a whole, we are talking about people who want to live, to experience the world, and to live a normal life by the modern standards.

However, due to the crisis, which has actually gone on for about twenty years now, the world is starting to lose the impulse of gradual movement. Japan, which once made a gigantic leap, has reduced its turnovers a long time ago. And everyone else is also slowing down and even rolling backwards. These are the systematic processes that correspond to the program of creation, and you cannot do anything about them.

As a result, the middle class is losing hope of a good life and is descending to the level of the simple worker. This was caused, in part, by technologies, and generally, by the new turn of development. But the main reason is that we have found ourselves in a global world and societies are now being permeated by an integral interconnection. Today a family is barely able to raise even one child. All the areas of our lives are immersing in a crisis which demands new investments in order to avoid total collapse.

Thus, the middle class, including students, has no hope for the future. And this is a very big mass of people. For example, in Spain unemployment has enveloped up to 50% of the youth. Upon returning home, graduates of European universities discovered that there is nothing for them to do. They cannot get work or create a family. The time for this has come but there are no hopes. Moreover, they do not see an improvement happening now, nor in several years. They don’t even have a chance to put something away for the future because instead of economic development, we are shifting to a decline.

So what should we do? There is just one way to achieve success at the next stage: by directing the world to integral relationships. This is the only thing that will bring us success in our earthly activities. After all, we are all in an integral system and therefore it is necessary to give everyone the appropriate upbringing. People should be told, “Here’s the country’s budget. This is what we can do. We will gradually correct the situation, starting from the bare necessities, but on the condition that you begin to study.”

People have to be taught about the integral world in a form that’s accessible and clear to them, using examples and obvious illustrations. This learning has to happen over the radio, television, and Internet, through literature, theater, music, and cinema, so everyone would understand what kind of world humanity has entered. It is necessary to make use of culture and arts so people would become imbued with this and would feel where they are.

Then, no matter what we do in the nation and in the world, success will come our way. That’s because our actions will be aimed toward correction. On one hand, we will calm people down, providing them with the necessities, and on the other hand, we will educate them, and a few months later they will become different. They will become aware of what is happening and will start feeling the world’s globality, which does not leave any other solution besides a change in relationships.

When masses of people learn this, the results will correspond to the new conditions because every person is mentally connected with others and everyone influences one another even without saying a word. Besides, this message is heard everywhere. It permeates all of the mass media and conquers the Internet, “Everyone is global and you must also become global. Otherwise you don’t have any chances to succeed in anything.”

Thus, if we are talking about the right way for the social outburst to proceed, then at the next stage everyone will come home from the demonstrations, receive additional means from the government, without which they cannot do for now, and begin studying. This can’t possibly harm them, so let’s see whether the science of Kabbalah is correct. Let’s see whether we will really change as a result and by virtue of that, so will the whole world.

After all, society and the world are a product of our attitude to one another. It’s enough to work on yourself, and everything around will transform as well, becoming more effective and blossoming. So let’s try it, especially seeing that humanity has no other solution.

The problem is us: How quickly will we be able to explain to the nation and the world that this is the salvation? One way or another, all the countries are at risk and the situation will only get worse. No one besides us can give the world an explanation of the reason for the crisis and the way to come out of it. No one will reveal the actual opportunity to change the situation and show that the current breaking point is part of the program of human development instilled in us from the beginning. Kabbalists have discerned this point a long time ago and have described the exact timetable of its realization. So let’s listen to them.[49863]From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/11, “One Commandment”

In the News (from The Independent): The Office of National Statistics (ONS) of Britain attempted to “quantify a phenomenon that has until now been the preserve of poets and songwriters rather than statisticians….a happiness (or more accurately a wellbeing) index….

“All ages …seem to agree that, fleeting pleasures aside, there is a holy trinity when it comes to how positive we feel about ourselves and where we live: good health, functioning relationships and a satisfying job.”

My comment: For all the people in the world happiness comes down to satisfying the following:

Three bodily desires rooted in the “animate” body (food, sex, and family (friends));

Three “social” desires, arising under the influence of society (wealth, power or fame, and knowledge).

Surveys in each country can identify how its citizens view happiness because everybody has the above mentioned six desires. But in each individual, they are expressed in a particular proportion, while in every nation, in a proportion specific for a given nation.

There is another kind of people who, beside these six desires, have a higher desire to reveal the meaning of life—its root, the Creator. Satisfying all other desires interests them only to the extent necessary for their existence.[49691]

Question: What can force people to start studying the laws of an integral world?

Answer: They should be advanced by the environment aimed at that direction. Today, you can get people into the streets because of high prices of cottage cheese or housing. When the protest exhausts itself, you will have an opportunity to explain to them what the problems is.

But they will not be able to achieve anything because to meet their demands, the whole country has to be shaken up. It is not easy to begin constructing affordable apartments. Here, you have to break whole systems, carry out laws, and turn everything upside down.

The current situation is contrary to justice, but it is very difficult to correct. Each person is an egoist; each pulls to himself, and as a result, everything will remain as it was. Not a single government, not a single member of parliament is interested in anything else but his own career.

And that is why it is impossible to get anything real from them. They will throw a trifle, the effect of which will be cancelled by other factors. It cannot be otherwise: Such is our world. In reality, people in power are no worse than us, ordinary citizens.

And therefore, our task is to educate the people. General changes among the population will lead to correct changes at all other levels.

You should not think that it will take too much time. If the process unfolds on a large scale, it will gain completely different power. Another law is acting here: the law of a closed system. And the need here is different—the need to live a normal life. But here is a trouble: The modern state is organized in such a way that it does not care about this.[49564]From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/2011, “The Peace”

Question: Suppose you have brought me this knowledge about a global and integral system. I listen and understand what you say. But I am not the head of government, not the owner of a TV channel or newspaper. I am an ordinary citizen. I understood your words. If I want to start developing according to this perception, in mutual guarantee between people, in balance with nature, what should I do?

Answer: Just as I brought this knowledge to you, you have to pass it to others. Perhaps, you have writing skills, and you will write an article. And today, if you can write even a few lines, the entire Internet space is open before you.

This network can accept you, and you can influence everyone through it. You do not have to be the head of government to do this. By the way, today, all the knowledge passes from one person to the other via the Internet system. Today, the media is not really able to form public opinion; the Internet forms it.

Through our entire network of friends and supporters, we can start to advertise the idea of mutual guarantee and all this knowledge, spreading it across the Internet space with all our strength. Our problem is that we are still closed within ourselves.

Day after day, from our daily lessons and talks, we should create such a media product that it would flow like the living water to the whole world, through all our friends, all our groups, and all the people who understand that this is a vital necessity without even being with us. Otherwise, the world will not survive for a long time.

We should not rely on the government and media, on well-known, famous people: No one needs that. If thousands of ordinary people worldwide support us, they can fill the entire online network with our information via Twitter and Facebook. Not a single government will be able to do this.

We see how governments fall because some rumors were spread through the Internet across the nation. People go out in the streets and overthrow the government.

That is why our work now should be directed at the circulation of information. We have to draw as many people who agree with us as possible, to gather and publish the opinions, talks, and lectures of scientists, economists, and people known in the media, in all the languages and at any level, with different approaches. But they should talk only about one trend, the same goal, and the same program. Here you have a ready education system; now, it should be injected through the Internet into the world and widely disseminated.

Then, based on the opinion of these scientists, it is possible to address UNESCO or the UN, the governments of different countries. It is not you alone addressing them, but together with others. After all, you want to put their ideas into use and think that humanity needs to know about them. Thus, you are building a global university of integral education.

The main thing is to start. And the major problem of our organization, as I feel, is that we are withdrawn into ourselves; we are closed and do not come out, do not break through to the outside. All the media that we produce is made for ourselves. We talk only among ourselves.

But if we organized thousands of our friends and supporters, our students around the world for external dissemination among the masses, I am sure that we would have received a different response from the world.

Our task now is to prepare the material about the global and integral world and our obligation to correspond to it, and do it as soon as possible. There is no need to mention the word “Kabbalah,” but rather to rely solely on scientists’ opinions and scientific data. And we have to disseminate this everywhere.

Question: If a person passes this idea to the world, what, essentially, does he change in it?

Answer: He connects the whole world to one global and integral force which governs this world, to the force of nature. He himself realizes the program of nature, along with all those who take his example and this idea and do the same thing. Everyone who does so realizes this program.[49453]From the Talk on a New Book 7/11/2011

Answer: Naturally. Every time we discover that we are acting with the intention Lo Lishma, meaning for our own benefit. And then we demand the Light that Reforms, for it to correct Lo Lishma to the altruistic intention Lishma (for the Creator’s sake).

I have 613 desires, and if in any one of them I act for my own benefit, that is called Lo Lishma. However, if I act for the sake of bestowal in this desire, that is already Lishma. We’re dealing with two necessary states, where one is stemming from the other. First the evil inclination is revealed, and then the Torah (spice) corrects it to the good inclination. As a result, the egoistic intention becomes altruistic.

It is written: “There is no righteous man on earth who has done good and did not sin first.” We must come to Lishma from Lo Lishma. And the same goes for the correction of all our 613 desires.

And if I don’t correct my evil inclination, don’t utilize the Light that Reforms according to the method of Kabbalah, I don’t reveal then even my own evil. Whatever bad things I may do in this world, it’s not the same evil that we’re talking about here. If I don’t discover within the intention to receive, I have absolutely no connection with the matter of desire that needs correction. I remain nothing but an “angel.”[49642]From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

Question: All strata and sectors of Israeli society are unifying to protest against high housing prices. Are they working in the right direction? What else does such union lack?

Answer:You call this “union,” but I don’t see anything of the sort. In my eyes, there is no real union. It is rather similar to a plot between two men who united in order to beat the third one up, or an alliance of thieves, conspiring to rob a bank. They have great solidarity and really care about each other.

So, from the perspective of Kabbalah, the people chanting slogans on the streets are bonded much like two egoists who want to make some extra money at the expense of the third. They lack a correct form of unity, and therefore they will get nothing. We cannot appeal to them yet, but in fact, we have to explain to them that the union must be integral, for the benefit of the entire nation. It is impossible to act in unison while everyone pursues his own shallow selfish interest. In this case, one will always benefit at the expense of the other.

After all, we have one “treasury” for all, and we can’t use it for our personal needs. If we do, someone else will lack afterwards. So why should you be the one to receive a “gift”?

All this must be taken into account. Today, around the world, such initiatives will meet positive results only on one condition: if we care about the welfare of society and are committed to mutual bestowal. Then we will begin protecting the interests of all layers of society and thereby succeed.

If we don’t think in terms of integration and do not feel concerned for the whole society, we will fail, and no-one will benefit but rabid egoists. But even they won’t gain pleasure from this and will keep limping from crisis to crisis together with everyone.[49465]From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/27/2011, “The Peace”

Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: Nature has prepared a wonderful foundation in the mother’s womb so that no stranger may harm the new life. It tends to its every need like a trained nanny who will not forget it even for a moment…. Like a loving mother, it brings it to such loving, loyal people it can trust, called “Mother” and “Father,” to assist it through its days of weakness until it grows and is able to sustain itself….

But those who examine that reality from the perspective of provision and persistence of existence can clearly see great disorder and confusion, as though there were no leader and no guidance. Everyone does that which is right in his own eyes, building himself on the ruin of others….

Bear in mind that this oppositeness, set before the eyes of every sensible, educated person, has preoccupied humanity even in ancient days. And there are many theories to explain these two apparent opposites in Providence, which occupy the same world.

On one hand, we see that nature is wise and assiduous toward every creature. It develops every element successively and carefully. Look at the structure of organisms, their ability to grow, to give birth to offspring, and to interact. Everything is built in an integral form, every person has his own place and is in balance with others. If we could see the balanced world, undisturbed by human despotism, we would reveal a wonderful system, one that is not static, but perfectly balanced for development.

However, we do not see the causes of this development and do not understand why everything has to be precisely this way. Therefore, we do not understand the phases of the path. Besides, we look at it through the prism of our egoism and evaluate it according to our criteria. Therefore, we see the world upside down, as if flipping it over in our perception.

Nevertheless, from scientific research it is clear to us that in order to develop the species, nature has created, produced, and formed all of the necessary systems that take care of the ideal creativity.

But on the other hand, a problem arises with the subsequent existence. Once any part of nature grows up and “stands up on its own feet,” it starts fighting for survival and integrating into the environment without parental help. This happens to all living creatures, but among people it takes on the most difficult forms because a person has to prepare for life in a society that is complex and artificial, built upon a multitude of mechanisms. Envy and lust for power ignite within him, pushing him to oppose others. Others seem successful, while he seems to be lagging behind them because of his nature or due to the circumstances.

Nature, which took such great care of us while we were growing, now places us in conditions that require efforts to survive. So does the Creator exist or not? If everything was all right, then we would say, “Thank God.” But if everything is not all right, then what you can say?

We have to fight indifference because this is the worst possible state. Indifference is called death.

We very much respect the two forms that are opposite to it: love and hate. Pharaoh, Haman, and all the other sinners described in the Torah are very important characters. Without them, we would not be able to rise to holiness. We receive all of our vessels, desires, from them. All of the righteous men stand opposite them because the Creator made one against the other.

Therefore, it doesn’t matter whether a person supports something or protests against it. The most important thing is that he cares about it very much, as opposed to being indifferent to it, feeling that it is “neither here nor there.”

It is possible to awaken a spark in anyone. This spark is concealed in every person because he originates from the broken vessel. Therefore, he definitely has a spiritual spark and it can be awakened. The only question is: How deeply is it concealed?

However, when this spark is awakened, he might react negatively: A person does not want to hear about it and he curses himself, the Creator, Kabbalah, and the whole path to bestowal. He does not agree to it and hates all of it. But Baal HaSulam says that this does not matter. It’s the same as if he agrees to it, the same as if he wants it because he is revealing his desire in this form. Even if the desire is corrupted, he already has it.[49828]From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/31/11, Shamati

Question: We often say that we have to play in a correct relationship in the group. What is this game?

Answer: The game stimulates our advancement. We attribute games to children because they grow and undergo developmental stages. And therefore those who no longer play, no longer develop.

Every time I define myself in a current state, examine it, and draw a certain picture for myself, this image of the future which I would like to be in, this transition from one state to another, is called a game. I’m playing it to be in this next image, to acquire this form.

In a game, we usually depict how we can benefit, win, and achieve something. There is an external game of reaching some external goals, and there is an internal game, when I make changes inside myself. But each is a game.

Everything that develops always has a desired state and reality, the idea of a ​​future goal, and the aspiration for it. It happens at the vegetative and animate levels, not just with man. For a plant the game is in its cell, for an animal it is with itself or with other animals, and this also occurs at the level of human physiology.

Man is regarded as “Adam” and wants to become similar to the Creator by playing precisely this game: how to become like Him. To do this, he has to think about this form all the time: What it means to be similar to the upper one, to be His equal, to adhere to him, to resemble Him in properties—and to play this game in the group.

This means that together we have to imagine a state where in the connection between us, we portray the image of the Creator in our mutual vessel. And to achieve this, there has to be total equality and partnership. The word “friend” (Haver) derives from the word “connection” (Hibur), and the connection is only possible between equals, under the condition of mutual giving and love, a mutual guarantee.

We are nothing like that at all, but if the friends and I try to play as if we are in such a relationship, in our future form, then we are constantly striving for a connection and shared desire to take the form of mutual bestowal. And at the instant when we receive this form of bestowal, we will feel the Light in it, due to the fact that we have finally completed our connection! And then the light will turn on! This is the revelation of the Creator.

And so, we light it more and more every time, above all obstacles. After all, there is no game without obstacles.[49206] From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/2011, Shamati #39